Chris Pratt and Nick Offerman have broken their silence over the shocking death of their Parks and Recreation co-star Jonathan Joss.

The 59-year-old actor, who played Chief Ken Hotate in the sitcom, was fatally shot during a dispute at his property in San Antonio, Texas on Sunday. Sigfredo Alvarez Cejam, 56, was subsequently arrested and booked on suspicion of murder.

Reacting to the news, Pratt posted a screengrab of an article about Joss' death on his Instagram Stories and wrote, "Damn. RIP Jonathan. Always such a kind dude. He played Ken Hotate in Parks and was also in Mag 7 (the 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven). Sad to see. Prayers up. Hug your loved ones."

In a statement to People, Offerman revealed that the Parks cast had been messaging each other to help them process the "terrible tragedy".

"The cast has been texting together about it all day and we're just heartbroken," he wrote. "Jonathan was such a sweet guy and we loved having him as our Chief Ken Hotate. A terrible tragedy."

Joss appeared as the leader of the Native American Wamapoke Tribe in a recurring capacity between 2011 and 2015. In addition to the sitcom, he also voiced John Redcorn in the animated series King of the Hill and appeared in the TV shows Ray Donovan and Tulsa King.

On social media, his husband Tristan Kern de Gonzales claimed that a man "started yelling violent homophobic slurs" at them when they visited their former home, which was destroyed in a fire in January, and "then raised a gun from his lap and fired".

However, local police in Texas said in a statement, "Despite online claims of this being a hate crime, currently the investigation has found no evidence to indicate that the Mr Joss's murder was related to his sexual orientation."